In the foothills of Uganda’s fabled Moon Rwenzori Mountains, in the far west of the country, sits Bundibugyo Hospital. From its front steps you can see the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the distance. Many refugees who fled their homes during DRC’s internal conflict are treated at here. The hospital regularly serves a population of nearly 49,000, many of whom rely on its HIV clinic for prevention, treatment, and care. Built in 1969, Bundibugyo Hospital had always faced the challenge of limited storage space for medicines and health supplies.

In Uganda, 4 in 10 maternal deaths are caused by postpartum hemorrhage, or excessive bleeding after childbirth. Intravenous oxytocin is the treatment of choice for managing postpartum hemorrhage at a health facility but must be stored between 2oC and 8oC to remain effective. The country’s cold chain infrastructure is weak, however, particularly at lower level health facilities, where half of all assisted births occur. The majority of these facilities only have refrigerators that are specifically procured and used for the storage of vaccines.

The Koboko District Rapid Response team and partners discuss medicines and medical supplies to order through the eELMISPhoto credit: MSH staff

Read the original story on the USAID websiteIdentifying opportunities to improve global health requires innovation and creative thinking. In developing countries such as Uganda, the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting an already-strained health system. Access to primary health care remains difficult for many people, and quality of care is inconsistent, with limited drugs, supplies, and human resources.

According to the National population based TB prevalence survey, each year, 87,000 Ugandans develop tuberculosis (TB), a preventable and curable disease. Strides have been made to notify more cases. In 2019, the National TB and Leprosy program notified 61,372 cases, leading to a 76% (61,372/80,412) treatment success rate. This was a huge improvement, with a 53% treatment success rate reported three years earlier.Many patients go untreated due to poor health-seeking behavior and limited access to health services.

By Sheila MwebazeWhen Professor Josaphat Byamugisha and his team took over management of Makerere University Hospital in 2018, they quickly realized that they needed to make major infrastructural and operational improvements to the hospital and its affiliated clinics.

The US Ambassador to Uganda, H.E. Deborah Malac, handed the facilities over to the Ministry of Health, represented by Dr. Charles Olaro, the Director of Clinical Services, at a ceremony at Luwunga Health Centre in Wakiso district.

On Thursday, August 22, 2019, the US Government officially handed over the first 14 of 26 newly constructed, prefabricated medicine storage units to the Ugandan Ministry of Health to help scale up the country’s HIV and AIDS epidemic response.The facilities will increase storage space for health commodities, including antiretroviral medicines, and will support the roll-out of the test and treat strategy for achieving HIV and AIDS control. The facilities will help ensure that adequate quantities of HIV medicines are available for Ugandans living with HIV.Dr.

The Apapai Health Centre IV laboratory in Serere district, Eastern Uganda, is busy today with ten patients waiting to have their lab tests taken. The laboratory technician, Samuel Oule, is confident that he has the right laboratory supplies to run tests for everyone he will see today—a welcome change from 12 months ago, when he would have had to turn some patients away because he lacked one or more needed laboratory supplies. Lacking needed supplies was fairly common to Oule and others in Uganda.

On November 29, 2017, the US Government donated motorcycles and laptop computers to Uganda’s Ministry of Health as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen the health commodity supply chain system and improve the health of Ugandans. The donation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through USAID’s Uganda Health Supply Chain (UHSC) program, implemented by Management Sciences for Health.

On September 12, 2017, Uganda’s Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, launched the Uganda Clinical Guidelines (UCG) 2016 and the Essential Medicines and Health Supplies List for Uganda (EMHSLU) 2016. The Ministry of Health (MoH) reviewed and published the guidelines with support from the USAID/Uganda Health Supply Chain program.
The MoH periodically updates the country’s UCG and EMHSLU to provide health professionals with current recommendations on how to best manage the most common health conditions in Uganda.